The Necklace
by FaithinBones
Summary: This is a Christmas story for those of you who didn't participate in the Bonesology Secret Santa fanfic exchange. I hope you enjoy it.
1. Chapter 1

(After The Doctor in the Photo / The Body in the Bag)

This is a Christmas story for those of you who didn't participate in the Bonesology Secret Santa fanfic. I wanted to do something special for you. I hope you like it.

I don't own Bones.

Ooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"Seeley, I don't want you to buy me a Christmas present." Hannah handed her boyfriend a cup of coffee and sat down at the dining room table. "Now I'm really serious about this. I don't really need a lot of stuff, not with a job like mine. It's difficult dragging stuff around from pillar to post. When I move I just take the basics with me."

He heard what she was saying, but he wasn't sure he understood the meaning behind it. Was she planning on leaving him? Did he do something wrong? "Is this your way of telling me that we're breaking up?"

Surprised with his response, Hannah reached out and placed her hand over his hand. "What? No you big goof. We're not breaking up. I'm just reminding you that I'm a nomad and someday when I or if I get a new job somewhere else I don't want to move a bunch of junk with me. Keep it light is my motto." She looked around the kitchen and smiled. "Of course I know you like stuff. When was the last time you moved? You have so much stuff you'd have to rent a moving van to move it all."

Still unsure about this conversation, Booth shrugged his shoulders. "I like old things. They used to make stuff to last. Now manufacturers make stuff to break so you have to buy new stuff. No pride in manufacturing at all anymore . . . and I haven't moved since I joined the FBI. I've been in this apartment for about nine years."

A little shocked, Hannah leaned back against her chair, her now free hand moved to her coffee cup and picked it up. "Nine years. I've never lived any place for longer that nine months. After I graduated from college I mean. Not as a child . . . wow, nine months."

Worry lines appeared on his forehead. "Are you looking for a new job?"

"No, of course not." Hannah realized that this conversation was upsetting her boyfriend and she wasn't sure why. "So anyway, no Christmas present, okay?"

"Sure." Booth poured some sugar in his coffee and decided he was hearing things not being said. He was good at that and he needed to stop that before he screwed up his relationship with Hannah. "Are you traveling with the President when he goes home for Christmas or are you planning to stay here? If you're staying home, we should plan something."

Hannah sipped her coffee and then placed her cup down on the table. "As of right now, I'm all yours for the holiday, but that will depend upon my editor I guess. I should know something by tomorrow."

Glad that she was going to be home with him, Booth smiled. "Maybe you and me can go skiing one weekend. I know of a few places that we could go to. Since Parker just moved to England, Rebecca says I won't get to see my boy until Summer Break, so I won't have him with me this year for Christmas." _Not that that isn't unusual, damn it._

"Sounds nice." Hannah smiled at her boyfriend. "Let's plan on it."

Ooooooooooooooooooooooo

It was the day before Christmas and Booth was feeling a little low. His son was in England, his girlfriend was traveling with the President and he was feeling all alone. Spying Brennan as she entered the Diner, Booth forced himself to smile. _Well at least Bones didn't abandon me._

"It's very quiet at the Lab right now." Brennan sat down, removed her gloves and hat and placed them with her purse on the floor near her feet. "Half of the staff are on vacation and the rest of us are trying to catch up on a back log of projects."

A little happier now that Brennan was sitting at the table with him, Booth smiled a genuine smile and pushed a small box towards his partner. "Merry Christmas Bones."

She had expected the present and in turn, she pulled out a small flat box from her purse and handed it to Booth. "Merry Christmas to you too, Booth."

Besides the gift from his grandfather, Booth expected the present Brennan had just given him to be the only one he was going to get this year. "Thank you, Bones." As he took the gift from her, his fingers brushed her hand and he felt a tingle run through him. "Um, should I open it now or do you want me to wait until Christmas?"

"I think you should open it now." Brennan placed an order for grilled vegetables over rice, a small side salad and a cup of coffee. That done, she opened the present that Booth had given her and gasped. "Booth, I don't think you should spend a lot of money on presents for me. I'm just your partner."

"And my friend." Booth paused opening his present and looked at Brennan. "You are my best friend and you deserve a nice present from me at least once in a while."

Her cheeks a light pink, Brennan looked down at the open box and admired the white gold necklace with an emerald pendant. "It is beautiful."

Pleased that she liked it, Booth smiled. "It belonged to my grandmother. I know it's old fashioned, but I like it. Nana used to wear it on special occasions. Her mother had left it to her in a will . . . Pops gave it to me after Nana died and I'm giving it to you."

Stunned, Brennan tried to hand the box back to her friend. "You should save this and give it to Parker, Booth. It belongs in your family."

Booth gently pushed the box towards her. "It's mine to give to whom I want to give it to. You've been my friend for a long time and . . . well, even though things didn't work out between us, we're still friends and I value that relationship, Bones. I do. No matter what happens between me and Hannah, you will always be my friend and I wanted you to have that necklace. I talked to Pops about it and he said he thought it was the right thing to do too. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't even be around. I mean how many times have you saved my life? Four times, Bones. You've save my life four times and this necklace is just my way of saying thank you and well, anyway, please take it. I want you to."

Reluctantly, Brennan took the necklace out of the box and placed it around her neck. "Thank you, Booth. I will treasure it."

A quick nod of his head, Booth looked down at his present and gasped. "No way!" He looked up and stared her in stunned amazement. "No way!"

"Yes way." Brennan was amused at his reaction. "Season tickets to the Washington Nationals. I know your team is the Phillies, but this way you can see them whenever they come to town."

Booth held up the tickets and read the writing on them. "Wow, behind the visiting team too. Thanks. You spent too much on my present, but thanks."

"Perhaps we can go to a game together." Brennan leaned back as the waitress placed her food down on the table. "When Hannah is out of town."

Booth nodded his head. "Sure. Sure we can do that. Thank you for making this Christmas happier for me."

"You're welcome." Brennan felt sad for Booth. Hannah should have found a way to stay home with him, but it wasn't any of her business and she wouldn't mention it. She was just a friend and nothing more.

Oooooooooooooooooooooooo

Brennan met Hannah at the bar after she and Booth had solved their latest case. She had been embarrassed when she had found out that Booth had told Hannah about their conversation in the SUV during the Lauren Eames case and she was still unsure she liked that Booth had shared their conversation. Hannah had said he was obligated to tell her and since Brennan was unclear about the rules in situations like that she decided to accept it.

They met in the bar and had drinks together. As they were waiting for their glasses to be refilled, Hannah caught a glimpse of Brennan's necklace and pointed at it. "That's lovely. Is it new?"

Her hand covering the pendant, Brennan shook her head. "Not it isn't. It's quite old, actually."

Hannah leaned closer and waited for Brennan to remove her hand so she could get a better look. "Did your mother leave that to you?"

"No, my mother has been dead since 1993." Brennan allowed Hannah to pull the necklace away from her neck to see it better. "Booth gave it to me as a Christmas present."

"Wow." Hannah was impressed. "I knew you guys were friends, but that's an expensive present. When did he give it to you?"

"The day before Christmas this last year." Brennan settled the necklace back around her neck and partially under her blouse.

Stunned, Hannah stared at her friend. "This Christmas?"

"Yes." Brennan picked up her glass and drank some Scotch. "He and his grandfather wanted me to have it."

A wave of jealousy moving through her, Hannah tried to tamp it down. "I see. It's very nice."

"Yes." Brennan agreed. "It really is."

Oooooooooooooooooooooo

She found him reading a book, sitting on the couch as she entered the apartment. Dropping her coat and purse on the coffee table, Hannah moved to the couch and sat down. "Temperance and I had a few more drinks than I thought we would."

Booth placed his book on the coffee table and turned to kiss her. "She can handle alcohol pretty well. Sometimes better than me."

Feeling a little odd, Hannah returned his kiss and settled back on the couch. "She showed me the Christmas present you gave her this year. It's very pretty."

"Yeah." Booth smiled at the memory. "Pops and I talked it over and decided to give it to her. Parker is going to inherit everything on his mother's side, so he's going to have more crap to deal with than will probably be good for him. Pops likes Bones and since she's my best friend and she's saved my life a hell of a lot of times and . . . and I hurt her, well, I wanted to give her something nice this year and Pops said it was okay to give her Nana's necklace. Bones has two nieces so she has someone to leave it to."

Hannah shook her head at the logic behind her boyfriend giving the necklace to Brennan. "But you might have a little girl someday. Wouldn't you have wanted to give it to her?"

A sad look on his face, Booth shrugged his shoulders. "I probably won't have any more kids . . . no, Bones, deserves it. I guess I put her through the wringer this last year and I hurt her. I'm amazed that she's still my friend. I wanted to show her how much I appreciated it."

"You keep saying you hurt her." Hannah wasn't sure what he was talking about and wanted to some clarification.

A distant look in his eyes, Booth nodded his head. "I told you she loved me. I . . . I asked her to take a chance on me last year and she told me no. I guess . . . I don't know. I guess she was afraid to try and I couldn't push her. She was always telling me that she didn't believe in love and I knew it and I shouldn't have asked her . . . anyway, a few weeks ago she told me that she missed her chance, but it's too late for both us. I'm with you now . . . I hurt her and I wish I hadn't. It was a big mess and it was all my fault and I can't fix it, but we are still friends and I hope I always will be. I never meant to hurt her . . . anyway that necklace is my way of saying I'm sorry for what I did to our friendship. It was real rocky for a while, but I think it's better now. We're just moving on and that's the best thing for us. She can try to find someone and we can keep our friendship. We're pretty good together when we just keep to friendship things."

"I see." Hannah knew that there was more to the story and she was lucky to have got as much information as she did. "Since I'm your girl, shouldn't you have given the necklace to me?"

Surprised, Booth turned to stare at his girlfriend. "You told me not to give you anything for Christmas. You said you don't want things because you move a lot. I assume you're not moving away now since we're together, but . . . you told me you don't want me to give you stuff. I gave the necklace to Bones because I know she'll take care of it and when the times comes, she can give it to someone to take care of it, pass it on."

His logic was sound and Hannah knew she didn't really have anything to counter it with. She didn't plan to leave her boyfriend anytime soon, but she knew she would eventually. She was a nomad and nomads never stayed in the same place for very long. _Yes, I guess it was a good thing he gave the necklace to Temperance. She will take care of it._

 _Oooooooooooo_

I had a few requests for a Hannah story. I thought I would write something during the Christmas season. I hope you enjoyed it. This story contains two chapters. I plan to post the second chapter tomorrow.


	2. Chapter 2

(After the Twist in the Twister)

Thank you for reviewing my story. I appreciate it.

I don't own Bones.

Oooooooooooooooooooooo

This was their first Christmas together as a couple and Booth was so excited. He wanted to make it the best Christmas Brennan had ever had. "We can get a tree, a big tree, maybe a twelve footer and I have a bunch of decorations, but we can buy some new ones if you don't want to use mine and . . . "

"Booth!" Brennan knew her mate was excited, but she needed to intervene before the situation got out of control. "Booth, you're working on the new house with Wendell besides working at the Hoover. We're still living in our apartments and currently we are trying to pack up things to get ready to move to the new house. I would rather you didn't make a big deal about Christmas this year. It's just really not a good time to be decorating and shopping."

Instantly deflated, Booth stared at Brennan and tried to understand what she was saying. "But I always buy a tree and decorate it. I always go Christmas shopping and to midnight Mass and I take presents to my friends and someone usually invites me to Christmas dinner although since we're together now, I thought we could cook dinner and invite our friends here or to your apartment."

He sounded odd and she wasn't sure what that oddness was, but she was really just trying to save him from extra work when he was already burdened with more work than one man could bear. "Booth look around. Half of your living room is covered in boxes. My apartment is the same way. You come home every night exhausted after a long day at the Hoover and working on our house. You're so tired, sometimes you just fall into bed and you're instantly sleep. Celebrating Christmas would just be too inconvenient this year. Surely you can skip one year. I'm worried about your health."

His voice now subdued, Booth looked around his apartment and realized that she was probably right. "Yeah, I guess you're right. I just wanted to do something special for you and . . . okay, I guess we'll skip some of the Christmas stuff, but I'm still going to go to Midnight Mass . . . Do you want to eat out for Christmas? Cam invited us for dinner and you said that Angela invited us too. I turned Cam down, but I could tell her we're coming if you don't want to cook."

Glad that her boyfriend was being reasonable, Brennan smiled. "Our kitchens are still functioning. I can cook us a Christmas dinner."

Booth nodded his head and smiled albeit a sad smile. "Sounds great. I'll help."

"No, that won't be necessary." Brennan smiled. "That will be my gift to you since you are the one doing so much work on our new house."

His hands reached out and took her hands in his. "You know, it might be possible to move into our new place a couple of days before Christmas. The house won't be completely ready, but I can have the bathrooms, our bedroom and the kitchen done by then. Well most of the kitchen. It's going faster than I thought it would since I hired Wendell to help. Oh and Clark was looking for some extra money for Christmas and I hired him to help with the painting and tile work plus he said he knows how to redo wooden floors. He helped his father strip and repair the wooden floors in his uncle's house. I can work on the other rooms while we're living there. We can finish packing up our stuff and we can store the boxes in the basement and unpack them as each room is finished. Wendell and I have already fixed the hole in the living room wall and all the outside doors and the living room windows have been replaced. What do you think?"

His plan seemed to be logical and she liked it very much. "I think that is a wonderful plan, Booth." She leaned in and kissed him. "It is ridiculous to pay rent here and at my apartment if we can move into our house sooner. I think I will ask Cam and Angela to come over to my apartment so they can help me finish packing up my things and get them ready to move. We can finish packing your things too. The basement is bare at the new house at the moment and there is plenty of room to accommodate our things."

"Bones, we promised to go through our stuff as we pack and get rid of stuff we don't need." Booth was worried that she was going to want to bring everything she owned to the new house leaving him to get rid of his stuff. "I've already packed the stuff I don't want and placed the boxes in the hallway. The Salvation Army is going to pick them up tomorrow morning."

"I know." Brennan had noticed several items were missing from Booth's apartment and she had seen the boxes in the hallway. "I've already made a list of the things I'm not going to keep. Don't worry, I think there will be plenty of room for the remaining things I plan to keep and that you plan to keep. If not, we can store them in the shed in the backyard and in the basement for now until we think of what to do with them."

Relieved, Booth smiled. "Good. That's good. I'll have the new stove and refrigerator delivered the day before we move in . . . So no Christmas tree but I will go to mass and you're going to cook dinner in our new house. We've got a plan Bones. We've got a good plan."

Oooooooooooooooooooooo

Two days before Christmas, the couple moved in to their new house. Booth was true to his word and the master bedroom, the upstairs master bathroom and the downstairs bathroom were completed. The kitchen cabinets were in place and the floor in that room was redone which left the appliances to be installed the next day. Clark was going to paint that room the day after Christmas. All of their remaining possessions were safely in the basement waiting to be unpacked whenever Booth was ready for them. The living room was still being worked on, but the wall between that room and the formal dining room was fixed and the shelves were currently being installed near the fireplace. Booth had hired a man to fix the fireplace and it looked very nice. "I'm impressed, Booth. You and Wendell and Clark had done an amazing amount of work in the last four weeks."

Booth was proud of what he had accomplished. "Well, I did hire a plumber to come in and replace the pipes in the bathrooms and kitchen plus he installed the bathtub, so that was less I had to worry about. Still, I'm pretty happy that I've been able to do a lot of the work. It's saving us a fortune."

Proud of her partner, Brennan kissed him. "We have a home, Booth. We really have a home."

Her excitement made him happy and he wanted to do more for her if he could. "Well the rest of the rooms need a lot of work, but now we can take our time. Clark said he'll help out and so will Wendell so we might be completely done before April. That's my plan anyway."

Pleased that they were now in their new home, Brennan entered the kitchen and smiled. "I will make a list of groceries we'll need so I can cook our Christmas dinner. The appliances will be delivered tomorrow morning and that will allow me to shop tomorrow afternoon."

Booth leaned against the kitchen doorway and watched Brennan open and close cabinet doors. "I had the boxes with our stuff for the kitchen piled up in the dining room. I think we can unload them this evening and get that out of the way."

"Yes, of course." Brennan loved the way the kitchen was laid out. It was spacious and the biggest kitchen she had ever had. "Since Clark still has to paint this room, we should probably just unpack the small appliances and the things we can place in the cabinets. Any wall decorations should wait."

"Yeah, a good idea." Booth was proud of their house. It was the first house he'd ever owned. It felt almost like a miracle that he now owned a house and he owed it all to Brennan giving him a chance.

Oooooooooooooooooooooo

On Christmas morning, Brennan woke up before Booth and moved quietly from their bed. He had worked late the previous evening and she had gone to bed much earlier than he had. Her pregnancy made her tired and she just didn't have the energy she normally had.

Quietly she dressed and moved over to the closet where her coat was hanging. Retrieving a small gift wrapped box from her coat pocket, she placed it in her sweater and left the room, Booth still sleeping soundly.

Careful as she made her way down the hallway, she peeked in to the baby's bedroom and noticed that the walls were repaired, but nothing else had been done to the room. Booth had removed a wall between two small bedrooms and had made a larger room for their daughter. It was spacious and would allow their child to have ample room as she grew up.

In the hallway, she noticed that Parker's bedroom was bare, but the floors had been sanded and varnished making the floor glisten. The room was just a little bit bigger than their baby's room, but she was fine with that. Parker needed a room to play in when he was there and the weather was bad and the floor space was ample.

Moving to the staircase, she looked down in the living room and admired the fireplace. She had thought it was wise of Booth to let a professional chimney repairmen fix the fireplace. It was the focal point of the room and she was pleased at the work done on it.

After she arrived downstairs, she moved into the kitchen, placed the wrapped gift on the island and turned to make coffee. She planned to fry eggs and bacon for Booth and make some oatmeal for herself. Once that was done, she wanted to start to prepare their Christmas dinner. She wanted to bake a small turkey for Booth, but the rest of the meal would be vegetarian. Booth had agreed to it since she was the one cooking it and she wanted to make it a healthy meal for her man. He worked hard and he deserved good nutritious food.

After the bacon started to sizzle in the pan, Booth appeared in the kitchen wearing a robe and house shoes. His hair tousled, he rubbed the side of his head and yawned. "You're up early."

"It's not that early." Brennan smiled at her boyfriend and removed the cooked bacon from the pan and transferred the pieces to a plate. "Merry Christmas."

"Merry Christmas." Booth noticed the wrapped gift and moved closer to the island. The tag had his name on it and he was very pleased to see it. "Hey thanks Bones."

Brennan turned and watched him tear off the wrapper and open the box.

"Oh man." Booth admired the new watch in the box. "This is so nice of you, thank you."

Pleased that he liked it, Brennan held up her spatula, "How do you want your eggs?"

"Over easy would be good, but before you do that, I want you to see something." Booth moved closer and held out his hand so she could place her hand in his hand. "It won't take very long."

Curious, Brennan allowed Booth to lead her into the formal dining room where she stopped and stared in amazement. "Booth when did you do this?"

"Last night after you went to bed." Booth stared at the Christmas tree in the corner and the presents under the tree. "I wanted you to have a good Christmas."

Amazed, Brennan moved closer to the tree and felt a tear slide down her cheek. "You did this for me?"

His arm around her shoulders. Booth kissed her cheek. "I wanted to make this Christmas special for you."

"It's like . . . the last time someone really did this for me was when Russ tried to make Christmas for me when my parents disappeared." Her voice was soft and filled with tears.

"I know." Booth hoped he'd done the right thing. "I wanted to remove that memory and replace it with a happier one."

Brennan turned, wrapped her arms around her boyfriend and let her forehead press against his chest. "You already did that when you gave me a tree for a present a few years ago outside the prison, but thank you. This is even better."

Relieved that he'd done the right thing, Booth moved his finger under her chin and moved it up so she was looking at him. "I love you Bones. I want you to be happy. I can't undo the past, but I can make sure I don't screw up the future." He kissed her and as he pulled away, her blouse shifted and he noticed the necklace. "Hey you're wearing the necklace I gave you last year."

Her hand on the pendant, Brennan smiled. "I know I don't wear if very often, Booth, but that is only because the chain is delicate and my work can be rigorous. I have loved this necklace since you gave it to me. It gave me comfort when I needed it."

Confused, Booth frowned. "I don't understand."

"I know you don't." Brennan sighed. "For a while I thought that all we would ever have was our friendship. I loved our friendship, Booth. I really did. I thought I had missed my chance and when you were with Hannah, I realized that our friendship could have easily died, but it didn't and when we bickered a little too much and I worried that our friendship was strained, I would hold this necklace and I would remember that you valued my friendship enough to give this to me . . .You could have given it to Hannah, but you gave it to me and that made this special. It was between us. A promise that our friendship was strong and you weren't going to walk out of my life."

"Never Bones." Booth moved his hand so his fingers touched the pendant. "I promised I would never abandon you and I meant it. No matter what had happened between me and Hannah, our friendship was not going to die. Not if I had anything to say about it. You were important to me then and you're even more important now. You're the only one who has ever really understood me. You know about my past, you know the things I've done and you don't care. You accepted me for who I am and believe me that is rare."

Booth dropped his fingers and placed his hands on her upper arms. After he kissed her, pulled her into his embrace. "I made a lot of stupid mistakes about us and I'm glad we got past them. I do know that is because of you. You're amazing and I will always be grateful that you were there to pick up the pieces when Hannah crushed my heart. I just don't know what I would have done if you hadn't help me. That mess was my doing and you let me fix it and . . . well thank you."

"You're welcome, Booth." Brennan snugged against his chest. "All I did was be the friend you needed me to be."

"And that was more than I could have hoped for." Booth exhaled slowly. "I never would have given that necklace to Hannah. She wasn't the right person. I knew that you would know how important that necklace was and you would take care of it. Even when I was besotted with Hannah, I knew I couldn't trust her with my Nana's necklace. I knew Bones. I knew then and I know now that you are the best friend I've ever had. The best and I love you."

His words were comforting and she knew that they were sincere. "I love you too, Booth."

Ooooooooooooooooooooo

So let me know what you think of my story. Merry Christmas everyone.


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